Stanford University energy expert Tony Seba predicts that by 2030, solar power will make the fossil fuel-based utilities redundant while electric vehicles will put the oil companies out of business. “Utilities as we know them are over. They are the land line telephone companies of 20, 30 years ago”, he says in an interview with Giles Parkinson, founder and editor of the path-breaking Australian website RenewEconomy.
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Natural gas is a coal killer and renewable energy booster. That at any rate is the major conclusion of the Breakthrough Institute, an influential, independent US think tank, in a recent report. We have provided a short summary for you.
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The Dutch government has presented a National Energy Accord for Sustainable Growth that seemingly represents a new national consensus on energy and climate policy. However, the Accord, which was negotiated by a wide range of civil society groups, environmental organisations, business lobbies and trade unions, has not been signed yet, and is still quite vague. Perhaps more important for “sustainable growth” prospects in the Netherlands is the news … [Read more...]

The International Energy Agency has given us a lot to think about recently. The IEA has produced one major report after the other – on renewables, gas, oil and climate change. How do these outlooks stack up and what do they impy for our energy future? Editor Karel Beckman provides a handy summary – so you won’t have to worry about this anymore over the summer. Or maybe you do…
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A new report from Oliver Sartor of CDC Climat Research and Thomas Spencer of IDDRI (Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations) shows that the impact of higher carbon prices will not drive the energy-intensive industry out of Poland.
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The European Investment Bank (EIB) intends to place stricter CO2 emission standards on coal power plants that it finances, but not as strict as the standards president Obama recently proposed in the US. The EIB is also considering investing in shale gas projects, according to a draft of its new energy lending policy. NGOs accuse the EIB of a “missed opportunity to politically reject coal”. With the EBRD and World Bank also mulling new investment … [Read more...]

The only way to stimulate investment in industry while staying in line with CO2 reduction targets is to end coal plant construction in favour of renewable energies, argues independent energy consultant Jeffrey Michel. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is just not going to deliver the goods. It is too costly and too risky.
Photo: carbon dioxide sequestered in basalt (PNNL) … [Read more...]